LivePerson Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:LPSN)

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPSN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 2,517 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 417% compared to the average daily volume of 487 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at LivePerson

In other LivePerson news, Director William Wesemann acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.00 per share, with a total value of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 374,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,835. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 7,834 shares of company stock worth $6,839 over the last three months. Insiders own 9.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LivePerson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LPSN. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in LivePerson by 131.3% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 406,123 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 230,564 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in LivePerson by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,132,745 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,823,000 after buying an additional 418,503 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in LivePerson by 99.0% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 185,262 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 92,178 shares during the period. Vector Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in LivePerson in the fourth quarter worth $37,089,000. Finally, Options Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of LivePerson during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LivePerson Trading Down 11.0 %

LPSN traded down $0.06 on Friday, reaching $0.50. 1,060,366 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,717,445. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1.39 and its 200-day moving average is $2.51. The company has a market cap of $43.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.44 and a beta of 1.49. LivePerson has a twelve month low of $0.49 and a twelve month high of $6.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.63, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20.

LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $95.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.54 million. LivePerson had a negative return on equity of 47.71% and a negative net margin of 24.99%. Equities analysts predict that LivePerson will post -0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of LivePerson from $3.75 to $2.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Roth Capital cut shares of LivePerson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of LivePerson from $3.50 to $1.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Roth Mkm cut shares of LivePerson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $6.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of LivePerson from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, LivePerson currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.08.

About LivePerson

LivePerson, Inc engages in conversational artificial intelligence. It enables brands to leverage the Conversational Cloud's intelligence engine to connect with consumers through an integrated suite of mobile and online business messaging technologies. The company offers the Conversational Cloud, an enterprise-class digital customer conversation platform, which enables businesses and consumers to connect through conversational channels, such as voice, in-app, and mobile messaging.